We set out for Aleppey (Alappuzha for the Mallu purists) at dawn the very next day (Sunday, 14th March 2009). This time round, Adrian, a friend from the client side came with us as well. We used the same taxi we went to Athirappilly in, thanks to the marvel of technology that is the mobile phone. The mobile phone has done to commerce what Twenty20 has done to cricket - instant gratification guaranteed!
By the way, the taxi driver had a rather memorable name - Romeo, but as far as Mallu names went, one felt it was significantly lacking in imagination and that sense of debonair abandon that mallu parents have while inflicting some unsuspecting kid with a name worth regretting! Romeo can count himself lucky not to be saddled with something like "Lijeemon Samuel", "Bobbilikumar Thettachan" or "Pearlymol Vadakkeparambil". People who know me are apt to say, "You are one for commenting on others names, Rangarajan Vijayaraghavan", but believe me, I mention these names out of a purely kindred spirit :) . For a much better description of South Indian names, readers are directed to a much more famous blog post!
All said and done, Romeo was a good driver, though more of the "What the racetracks of Monza lost Kochi has gained" school of driving than the "Slow and steady wins the race" school. Effectively, he ensured that we reached Aleppey in about an hour. We saw some interesting sights on the way, including a brokerage firm with a name designed to combat the worst of recessions:
Morgan Sachs International Brokerage House Limited
(now that's original!)
We also saw a juvenile elephant, looking rather contemplative, being transported by a tempo and about a million bridges over backwaters along the way. We reached Aleppey at about 7.15 AM and read a sign-board that said "To the beach", much to our surprise. While our research had thrown up plenty of results on the backwater cruises, no one ever seemed to have mentioned the beach. Still, we headed to the beach, with minimal expectations. We were in for a surprise - not only was the beach quite large, but clean, picturesque and empty as well! Here's a little sample
Btw, all the above pictures and any other ones I may post about the Aleppey trip were taken by Abhay from his Nokia E70 camera (thanks to my camera resting safely with the Canon Care Center by then) - now that's a truly versatile phone! Of course, due credit to Abhay's photography skills as well :)
Adrian, Abhay and I had a good time walking along the beach, watching crabs, clams and other forms of marine life as well as a really funny bird family running around at the edges of the beach looking for a tasty snack. It was hilarious to watch them running spiritedly after a receding wave, with alert eyes on the lookout for the next meal, and running back hurriedly as the next wave came in. Better seen than described though!
We then had our breakfast at a nearby restaurant and soon left for the backwater cruise. We reached the backwaters by around 10.30 and spent some time looking around the area for some houseboats.
More about the houseboats in the next post :-)
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